vol105issue24

www.therecorderonline.net

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Hip-Hop Show Set for April 23 WFCS 107.7 will showcase local talent from Hartford area on Thursday Page 6

Volume 105 No. 24

Blackberry Storm Remains Imitator Lack of battery retention and sluggish texting don’t bode well for Storm Page 8

Conference Focuses on Global Sustainability

Tuition Increase to Sustain Courses, New Faculty and Equipment Tonya MaLinowSki news editor

edward Gaug | The Recorder

Dr. Gary Ginsberg spoke at last Thursday’s conference.

MaTT kieRnan news editor

The second annual Global Environmental Sustainability Symposium brought together professors, scientists and heads of environmental organizations to discuss how people can help keep their planet a cleaner place to live.

The event ran for two days at different centers around campus and was hosted by assistant professor of geography Dr. Charles Button.

He held panel discussions, visits from various specialists on the subjects of global

warming and environmental sustainability and exhibitions among other things.

“We need to look for any opportunity we can to make a difference,” said Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut.

Senator Dodd stopped by to give a speech and discuss with members of the audience ways to use renewable energy and the importance of people being informed that global warming is an issue that must be addressed.

He said that better housing and land use will save households thousands of dollars each year and that addressing environmental problems will give everyone a once in a generation chance for change.

“This ought to be a no-brainer for us to move aggressively,” said Dodd.

A town hall meeting with Danielle Rosengarten of the Environmental Legislative Counsel for Senator Joe Lieberman, CT Climate Coalition and Campaign Director Roger Smith and CCSU Chief Administration Officer Dr. Richard Bachoo talked about how students and members of the community can help their environment.

“Doing things that help aren’t necessarily uncomfortable to people, but a mindset,” said Bachoo. Bachoo discussed how often people are hesitant towards helping their environment beSee Conference Focuses Page 3

The recent increase in cost of at Central will have many students wondering where exactly their money is going.

Commuting students will see a 5.3 percent increase in total cost of attendance, while on-campus residents can prepare for a 5.6 percent hike. Part of the augmented cost includes a $228 increase in tuition alone, excluding university fees.

“What happened this year was a realistic attempt to say, ‘we have to make up some of the money from these [budget] cuts, otherwise we can’t teach all the classes,’” University President Jack Miller said.

“How do you offer the same number of classes and pay the same number of faculty with 10 percent less money?”

The extra cost for on-campus residents comes from a 6 percent hike in cost of food service. Miller said the increased housing fees will help maintain routine repairs as well as eventually help fund the new residence halls planned.

Due to an unprecedented demand for housing this year, renovations on existing halls were postponed to accommodate more students. Carroll Hall was scheduled to see its first comprehensive renovation since 1957.

“When it comes to the end of May, we will have about 400 students on the waiting list for residence hall space,” Miller said. “If those students don’t get that residence space, they won’t come.”

In addition to an increased cost of attendance supplementing the budget cuts, CSUS management personnel will have no salary increase and take three mandatory furlough days next year.

See Tuition Increase Page 3

Lecturer Focuses on Possible Legalization of Drugs and Consequences JaSon CunninGhaM

The president of Efficacy, a non profit organization focused on drug law reform, Clifford Thornton, spoke at the Connecticut Room last Thursday to examine what he believed was the real cost of the war on drugs and possible solutions.

Thornton, a retired management executive of the Southern New England Telephone company, has focused exclusively on drug policy issues since 1997.

As Senate Bill 349 is being debated statewide, many people have taken a stance of support or opposition to the controversial Marijuana decriminalization act.

Thornton however, expressed he wants to see more done in the Nutmeg State, claiming that decriminalization just isn’t enough.

After a brief documentary produced by the Open Society Institute, which stated that

the war on drugs is directly responsible for significantly spreading HIV and Hepatitis C, Thornton explained that he believes every drug should either be legalized, made legal for medical purposes, or studied further in the case of more recent, unexplored drugs.

Legalization, Thornton said, would make marijuana completely legal, much like alcohol and cigarettes, to be bought in stores by people of age.

Allowing drugs to be used for medical purposes, he believes, would include heavier drugs like heroine and cocaine to be used under a doctor’s supervision, and drugs like ecstasy would be left for further exploration by the medical community.

All of these drugs, he said, would generate an unbelievable amount of income for our economy, and in the case of hemp, revolutionize the paper, clothing and food industry.

He contemplated his message to Connecticut’s Governor M. Jodi Rell.

News

Opinion

entertainment editor

Q&A with SGA Presidential Candidates

Page 2

“Well, I would say to Jodi Rell this: basically you pass yourself off as a conservative republican… What legalization is, is a highly conservative policy, in that, it seeks to limit the access to our children and tax a substance that’s not being taxed,” Thornton said.

“How much more conservative can you get? What we have in place and what she supports, is a very liberal policy, because you have to admit, anyone who wants these drugs, can get them.”

Thornton, who ran for governor of Connecticut in 2006 as the state’s first Green Party and African American candidate, said he’d give the position another go if someone could come up with the $3 million necessary for spending during the run.

During a lengthy question and answer session with Thornton, he discussed the power of the people, saying that many don’t understand their power as a voters and their potential to generate political change.

Clifford Thornton spoke on Thursday and pushed for not only the decriminalization, but legalization of all drugs.

Sports

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Epps Steps Up in Weekend Matches

Addison Station Stays Playful

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Making SATs Optional is a Positive Step for Universities Page 5

edward Gaug | The Recorder

News

2 THE RECORDER Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Sitting Down with the SGA Presidential Candidates have been doing is to bring students onto campus to educate students how they can handle their financials now to be better prepared for it when they enter the real world.

Something that students don’t know is that the average age that students used to start investing is 33, right now that’s ten years away but if we start investing in small increments, that can pay off in the long run. I want to educate students a bit more and show them how they can come out of this unharmed. They may feel a little pressure in some places but if we do our job right as a university and as a student government we can help students through this without any harm done to them.

CD: What would you want to see this tuition money go towards?

Andrew Froning

Andrew Froning is a junior here at CCSU. He is a currently an AtLarge Senator. He is pursuing a BA in psychology with a minor in business.

As an At-Large bid he represents both commuter and the residents on campus.

Froning believes he has so many connections throughout the student body that will allow him to represent every side.

Charles Desrochers: What do you think about the tuition increase?

Andrew Froning: This increase is actually the lowest of all the state institutions for the upcoming year. The whole world is suffering through financial dilemma where it’s going to be a time where both the university and the students will have to learn some responsibility monetarily. I feel we will make it through it and I feel like the student government will also do a great deal in helping the students cope with this. I know something I

Kelley Fournier

Ashley Foy: What do you think about the tuition increase?

Kelley Fournier: I think the tuition increase is necessary, unless you want to lose professors and you want to lose classes, and you want to lose basic services that we as college students need. Considering the increase at UCONN and our other sister schools, their tuition is still higher than ours, all of them. We’re still the best price within the system. And I think, along with that, if you want to keep Central to the standard that it is held at, you need that increase, in order to make sure that you still have administrators and professors and you still have classes and programs with services. Those are the things that people want to have here, and in the economic climate today it is unrealistic to be able to keep those things

AF: A concern I’ve raised is that this previous course catalogue, there are a lot of “to be announced”. That kind of worried me because if I sign up for a class and they can’t find professors for this class what happens to me?

What happens to the person next to me as well, who also signed up for that class? I want to see this increase go towards making sure we have professors to meet the needs of our students. Keep the student to faculty ratio low like it’s always been.

Another thing I would like to see would be internships. Internships cost the school a bit of money so some departments might cut internships for financial reasons. I don’t want to see that happen because internships create job opportunities for students and that’s what we’re here for, to get better job opportunities.

CD: What flaws do you see in the senate?

with each other we would be going on a straight path to nowhere. We need people to argue. It’s not senseless arguing, it’s intelligent arguing. While people may not agree on certain things at least now it’s being discussed. So, when we come to an agreement it’s been thought over very well. I think this previous year’s Senate has actually done a lot of good things. We’ve had safety night walks; we’ve addressed several issues regarding student activity fees. I would have to say that the one thing that the senate has seemed is we are not always out there. Right now we’re kind of in a cave and kind of secluded. I want to attract more students. I want a student audience for senate, but that involves working with other organizations and making sure students are more informed to what we do.

RT: The flaws that I see in the Senate is the lack of communication between the entire student body and the Senate itself.

The mere fact that a lot of students don’t know what SGA stands for. They think it stands for straightgay alliance and that jus shows that we as a Senate hasn’t been doing a good enough job of getting our names out there, getting ourselves out there.

That’s one of the things I would do as SGA President – just let people know what SGA is and what our duties as an SGA, pretty much.

MT: What I was going to ask was how do you plan to fix it, but you sort of already answered that…

How do you plan to fix that, in specifics?

CD: What would you do to better the Senate?

AF: What I want to do as a Senate is to unify all these things keep them separate but have them working together. I want to see the senate working with the media board to keep the students informed of what we’re doing, not only at the CSU level but also at the state level. I want to work with the Student Union Board of Governors, to make sure this student center is fit for our students. I want to work with the IRC to work on some initiatives. Instead of having these different bodies working on different issues I want the Senate to be like, “Alright, let’s team up and tackle this together.” So really my whole thing is to unify this campus. Going along with that is something I’ve started this past semester, to bring faculty, students, and staff together. I really want to turn this university from campus to a home for people.

AF: Some people may see the senate as divided or separate but I think that is healthy for a Senate. If we all agreed

Interviewed by Charles Desrochers, Asst. Lifestyles Editor

without increasing tuition. It is a very small percent, it is 3.5 commuters and around 3.9 for residents, so it is very, very small. We’re still the cheapest public school (outside of community colleges).

AF: How would you make the students feel the benefit from this tuition increase?

KF: (Laughs). “That’s an interesting question! I think my biggest, kind of, pet peeve with the senate, is order. I feel like we don’t keep good order.

When I started six semesters ago, I am one of the longest serving senators. One thing I really loved my freshman year, we had a different president, and he kept order in meetings so well. Meetings were so efficient, there was never arguing, never any kind of question is this right/is this wrong, there was never drama or other things you can get in organizations, which I really liked. And it made senate look much more professional, act much more professional, and get more done. So I’d really like to restore that order, restore a strict enforcement of Robert’s rule.

One of the things I actually want to do if I’m elected is appoint a parliamentarian because we don’t have one, and we could really benefit from a parliamentarian. A lot of times it’s people’s judgment calls, and it’s always different people making those calls, and you need one person who knows how to run a meeting efficiently and effectively and you need that person to be making the calls.

Sometimes it is not appropriate for the chair, president or an advisor to make those calls. I think that is something that definitely needs to be worked on. The second thing that kind of bothers me in the senate internally is our committees. Our committee structure needs serious revamping. They’re just kind of disorganized and doing their own thing in a lot of cases and there needs to be a way to not necessarily consolidate, but tighten it up and make it a stronger system. I think that would probably be the next thing that needs to be done. Other things internally, I think

KF: Well, basically, that is kind of hard, because you may see some additional things but you’re not really going to see a lot of that, you’re going to see the maintenance of services because if there wasn’t an increase in tuition, they would have to cut services, and they would have to cut positions and layoff people. By increasing tuition, you’re going to be able to fill in those gaps where that needed to happen. You are going to see that maintenance of programs and things like that.

The tuition increase, I don’t believe it is going to affect the student activity fee, which means that students will be still paying the same ($70 I believe it is) in student activity fees, which comes to us and a couple of organizations and other things like that. I am not sure how the resident breaks down, I am sure they will have extra costs associated with living. I am not a resident so I don’t know how all that breaks down. But I think a lot of what this is about, is more about preventing things from being cut, rather than adding things on, because today we really can’t be adding things on, it’s more about maintaining what we have over losing what we already have.”

AF: What are the flaws you see in the senate?

MT: What flaws do you see in the Senate?

Milan Rasheed Taylor

Melissa Traynor: What do you think about the tuition increase?

Rasheed Taylor: I think that tuition increases aren’t good, but they’re needed especially in this economic state.

MT: How do you think that the tuition increase is going to benefit students?

RT: Prices and goods are going up, so it’s necessary for the university to fill in the gaps. Based on the previous question, this one kind of answers itself in the last one.

RT: One of the best things, of course, right now is Facebook and I would create a Senate SGA help-desk, where we would invite everyone that we know who goes to Central and instead of people actually going to the meetings and voicing their concerns they could actually voice their concerns on the discussion boards, the walls. We could also hold town hallstyle meetings, like once every month on different topics, just so we could get our faces out there because an effective government is one that people know. If you don’t know who your government is, it’s clearly not an effective government.

Interviewed by Melissa Traynor, Editorin-Chief

Photos by Melissa Traynor | The Recorder

our finance system is working pretty well. It’s only be around for two years, so it’s still kind of in the beginning process, we’re still trying to work out the kinks. But I think for the most part that is okay.

There are some people who want to revamp our constitution, and I think there is a time for that, and there is kind of a need for that, a little bit. I don’t want to overdo it, I feel like some of my opponents and other senators want to really hard core overturn the constitution and I don’t think that is a good idea at all. Once you start picking it too much…you want to leave it broader and open for interpretation. I think that it needs to be tightened up, and it is a priority for me, but it is not something I am going to go crazy for. There are other things we need to tighten up first.

AF: How do you plan to fix it?

KF: I really want to appoint a parliamentarian, who’d be elected like a committee chairman. I’d appoint someone and then we would vote that in, to take care of the Robert’s rules and order of the meeting. Just another extra voice, to have someone really straightens out the bickering.

With committees, people really need to be assigned. Right now it’s go wherever-you-want type of a thing, and I don’t think that necessarily works. I think we need to do committee assignments for senators, that way we know where everyone is and have a concrete list of people on committees, so come time for review of senators, we have all that information available to us. I really think that assigning committees will be much more helpful. I also think another thing with committees, that as presi-

dent (I make it a point already) to be at all of my committees meetings.

There are only three, so it isn’t that strenuous, but I make it a point to be at all those meetings. I feel as an executive leader, you need to know what’s going on in every committee.

You need to have some general idea of what everyone is doing. We don’t always get to committee reports in our meetings, so you kind of have to make up for that by being present at those meetings or at least having private conversations with committee chairs, and that is something I feel our executive leader is lacking right now. He doesn’t put an effort forward to go to committees, and I understand schedules are hectic and crazy but maybe you alternate every week or even meet in private.

Having a constitutional convention where a group of us get together, older and newer senators with different outlooks sit down and do that, and that’s already in the works, but I won’t take credit for that because it’s not my doing. I think it’s always good to be looking at our constitution, constitutions are meant to be like a living document that you are constantly working on, so I think it is great that we want to do that, but I also don’t want it to get too carried away. Some things are broad because they need to be broad. I do want to work on that, but I want to do it subtly, and not all at once because that has to be voted on by the entire student body, so it is a long process.”

Interviewed by Ashley Foy, Special to The Recorder

THE RECORDER / Wednesday, April 22, 2009 / NEWS

Conference Focuses on Global Sustainability

3

Continued from page 1

cause of not caring enough and that helping doesn’t create much discomfort for people.

“The problem is we can’t do this just as Connecticut, we need to do this at a national level,” said Smith.

Smith said that money should be used towards ways of renewable energy rather than areas such as the coal industry for new innovations that may not necessarily work.

A panel discussion with toxicologist and author Dr. Gary Ginsberg, Head of Education and Outreach for the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History David Heiser, Director of Reforest the Tropics, Inc. Dr. Herster Barres and Chair of Windsor Environmental Subcomittee for Chamber of Commerce John Waiveris spoke about daily activities people can participate in to help out.

“Our choices as consumers tell us that we need the newest, best things out there,” said Heiser. Often people walk through aisles in stores and find themselves buying things that they don’t need, but want anyways and don’t take into consideration the health hazards of using the products.

A Circus for a Fragile Planet, a display in Welte Auditorium, featured acrobatics, juggling and featured clowns that interpreted life and death from environmental problems. An artistic performance by the group Neutralize Our Waste used theater to discuss the consequences and what people should do to create change.

An art exhibition is open for viewing until April 24 in Maloney Hall that features paintings and other art that examines environmental problems to show people the problems the world faces.

David Heiser of the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History

edward Gaug | The Recorder

Tuition Increase to Sustain Courses, New Faculty and Equipment Continued from page 1 Salary negotiations with instructional faculty are still in progress, though 21 full-time emergency faculty hires have been approved for the 2009-2010 academic year. However, Miller and University Provost Carl Lovitt agree that under-enrolled class sections are still in danger of being cancelled.

“These are all one-year, emergency positions and are not available for tenure,” Lovitt said. “They have the possibility of being renewed next year, but there’s a two year cap.”

The new faculty will be scattered amongst departments but the most will be placed in the new nursing program, criminology, and the school of engineering.

“We think we have enough students accepted already to come in with the same size

freshman class,” Lovitt said. “We will probably have 500 students on the waiting list and I just don’t know if we will have room for them.”

According to the Office of Institutional Research, the fall 2008 semester saw an incoming full-time freshman class of 1,773.

In addition to tuition and fee increases covering the cost of instruction, Miller said students can expect new equipment and expansions in the computer lab as well.

Despite plans for campus improvements, Miller said the CCSU community can expect to feel the hit of upcoming budget cuts.

“I think it would be unfair to imply it would be unnoticeable,” he said. “If we get 10 percent less money and nobody sees anything Central Conn Summer ad 2009 was different than before, then we must have been wasting that money.”

3/20/09

9:34 AM

Page 1

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4

THE RECORDER / Wednesday, April 22, 2009 / NEWS

CALENDAR 4.22 - 4.28 4.22-23 SGA Elections @ Student Center Lobby 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Or vote online at https://eballot.votenet. com/ccsu.

CCSU Events:

Vampire Weekend’s moniker is derived from lead singer Ezra Koenig’s amateur film of the same name. The band gained attention via a variety of blogs, such as Stereogum. The band is influenced by both African popular music and Western classical music, describing their genre of music as Upper West Side Soweto, with such songs as Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa and Oxford Comma referencing Congolese soukous music.

4.22 The Honors Pistol Resistance Panda and Child @ The Space Hamden, Conn. $10 / 7 p.m.

4.22 Paul Blart “Mall Cop” @ Vance Center Green 8 p.m.

4.22 PRIDE National Day of Silence Rally @ Student Center Circle 3 p.m.

With echoing melodic vocals and a Killers-like style, the Boston-based group The Honors created a hit with Ghosts EP. A fun, powerhouse rock album, the tracks balance upbeat progressive rock with the singer’s haunting, smooth voice. They have an electric sound that is magnetic and energized throughout the record. Through blending more than one style, The Honors produce a complex rock groove that is a fun ride from start to finish. It’s a musthear kind of record.

4.22 Werewolves w/ The Mixtape @ Cafe Nine New Haven, Conn. $5

4.22 PRIDE Breaking The Silence Karaoke 8 p.m.

4.28 Merlin Mann of 43folders.com “Future-Proof Your Passion: The Job You Never Knew You Wanted” @ Alumni Hall Student Center 3 p.m.

Merlin Mann of 43folders.com and the comedy podcasting group You Look Nice Today: A Journal of Emotional Hygiene, is coming to speak about chosing the career yoou want rather than the career you think to have to pick.

MUSIC:

Through 4.25 The Reader @ Cinestdio Hartford, Conn. $7 / 7:30 p.m.

Bernhard Schlink’s elegant 1995 novel exposed the confusion of young Germans after World War II, as they were faced with the horrors perpetrated by their parents’ generation.

British playwright David Hare’s screen adaptation explores this culture of secrecy and guilt in the story of a 36-year-old tram worker (Kate Winslet) who seduces a teenage boy, only requesting that he read aloud to her after making love. The next time they meet, he is a law student (played by Ralph Fiennes) observing her trial for her actions as a concentration camp guard. Kate Winslet won the Academy Award for Best Actress in a role that is unsettling, erotic and deeply ambiguous. The mesmerizing score is by Nico Muhly, a former student of Philip Glass.

4.23 Kiss Kiss w/ Dr. Manhattan and In:Aviate @ The Space Hamden, Conn. $10 / 7 p.m.

“It’s time for a revival,” is a common sentiment in modern music, but Kiss Kiss’s Josh Benash, doesn’t say it, he embodies it. With their explosive debut album Reality Vs. The Optimist Kiss Kiss don’t just revive music, they build a cathedral to it out of a gypsy circus tent.

In the space of twelve tracks, the caberet catches fire, the orchestra aches and Josh Benash’s voice breaks it’s way through a truly groundbreaking masterpiece.

4.23 The Future of Entertainment, Underground Hip-Hop Show @ Alumni Hall Student Center FREE / 11 p.m.

4.23 VRSA w/ The Cloud Professors @ Cafe Nine New Haven, Conn.

4.24 Ponytail @ Wesleyan Eclectic Middletown, Conn.

FREE / 9 p.m.

4.24 The Pains of Being Pure at Heart @ Wallingford American Legion Wallingford, Conn. $8 / 7 p.m.

4.22 Vampire Weekend @ Smith College Northampton, Mass. $29 / 8 p.m.

FILM:

Struggling writer Max resorts to robbing banks after his newest play bombs – sending his investor grandfather to the hospital. Max starts to think that robbery is his true calling. He has a miraculous knack for getting away with it.

Then, he falls in love with a bank teller.

4.24 CAN & NAACP Lip Sync Contest w/ Biz Markie @ Welte Auditorium 8 p.m.

4.24 Coyote Clan PowWow By Wambli Tokoda @ Vance Center Green 12 -5 p.m.

4.27 KRS-One @ Toad’s Place New Haven, Conn. $25 / 10 p.m.

4.24 – 4.30 Skills Like This @ Real Art Ways Hartford, Conn. $6.50 / 7 p.m.

4.23 The Regurgitator @ Devil’s Den Student Center FREE / 10 p.m.

4.24 Spring Concert w/ Streetlight Manifesto and Big D and the Kids Table, Article 19, Bronze Radio Return, The Smyrk @ Student Center Circle FREE / 12 Noon

4.25 Bear Hands w/ Bottle Up and Go @ The Daffodil Fest, Hubbard Park Meriden, Conn.

4.24 Deer Tick w/ Elvis Perkins @ Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel Providence, R.I. $14 / 8 p.m.

Enjoy a drink with friends, explore our galleries and new exhibitions, dance to local musicians or DJs, and be creative in a collaborative art project. Museum After Dark parties at the New Britain Museum of American Art are a great way to network with other young professionals or unwind for the weekend.

SPORTS 4.22 CCSU Baseball vs. Fairfield @ Beehive Field New Britain, Conn.

3 p.m.

CCSU Men’s Soccer vs. Manchester C.C. Cougars @ Arute Field New Britain, Conn.

7 p.m.

The men’s spring soccer season continues as the Blue Devils continue to work towards their fall season. After defeating the Western Massachusetts Pioneers 3-2 Central will now tackle the Cougars in their final home spring game.

4.23 Game 5 AHL Playoffs Hartford Wolf Pack vs. Worchester Sharks @ XL Center Hartford, Conn.

7 p.m.

4.25 CCSU Softball vs. Monmouth (DH) @ Saint Joseph College West Hartford, Conn.

1 p.m.

4.26 – 4.28 Coraline @ Cinestdio Hartford, Conn. $7 / 7:30 p.m.

The director of James and the Giant Peach and The Nightmare Before Christmas (Henry Selick) has created a dark new fairy tale for all but the very young. Eleven-year-old Coraline moves with her distant parents to a dusty old house, where she is bored & lonely. She discovers a magical world where the button-eyed ‘Other Mother and Father’ love her madly - and would like her to stay... It took 83 weeks of stopanimation to bring Neil Gaiman’s book the screen. But, to quote the L.A. Times’ Kenneth Turan, “you are aware of none of that. Instead, you are captured completely by what is going on. How rare, and how wonderful, is that?”

LITERATURE / ART: 4.24 Museum After Dark @ New Britain Museum of American Art New Britain, Conn. $10 / 8 p.m.

The Blue Devils will close out their regular season home games this weekend with two doubleheaders against Monmouth on Saturday and Mount St. Mary’s on Sunday. Central will be looking to record their first home victory of the season during these final four contests and will try to pull themselves out of last place in the NEC.

4.26 CCSU Softball vs. Mount St. Mary’s (DH) @ Saint Joseph College West Hartford, Conn.

12 p.m.

Editorial/Opinion The Recorder

Student Center 1615 Stanley Street New Britain, CT 06050 T 860.832.3744 F 860.832.3747 ccsurecorder@gmail.com therecorderonline.net twitter.com/therecorder

Editor-in-Chief Melissa Traynor Managing Editor Peter Collin Art Director Geoffrey Lewis Associate Layout Editor Crystal Maher Photo Editor Edward Gaug Copy Editor Colette Gallacher News Editors Matt Kiernan Tonya Malinowski Entertainment Editor Jason Cunningham Asst. Entertainment Michael Walsh Nick Viccione Sports Editor Kyle Dorau Asst. Sports Christopher Boulay Opinion Editor Shauna Simeone Asst. Lifestyles Charles Desrochers

About

The Recorder is a studentproduced publication of Central Connecticut State University and does not necessarily represent, in whole or in part, the views of CCSU’s administrators, faculty or students. The Recorder articles, photographs and graphics are property of The Recorder and may not be reproduced or published without the written permission from the Editor-in-Chief. The purpose of The Recorder is to approach and define issues of importance to the students of Central Connecticut State University.

Meetings for The Recorder are held on Mondays at 12:30 p.m. in The Recorder office.

5 THE RECORDER Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Editorial

The CCSU Student Government elections begin on Wednesday, April 22. All of the candidates who are running for election are proposing changes that they would like to see made in the upcoming year.

Unfortunately, none of the candidates are addressing the evident conflicts of interest that are occurring within the SGA. In recent interviews with Presidential candidates Kelley Fournier and Andrew Froning, they both acknowledged that change was necessary. Fournier’s main goals are to restructure the committee system and to make some changes to the constitution. Froning’s focus is on

unifying the campus and to increase communication within the SGA and between other organizations.

These changes would all be beneficial, but the candidates need to place a much larger focus on attempting to eliminate or minimize the conflicts of interest between members of the SGA. Many members of the SGA are also members of other clubs on campus.

The SGA is responsible for apportioning the student activity fees to almost all of the clubs on campus, excluding clubs that are apart of the media board. The problem arises when students on the SGA are also members of the clubs that are receiving money from them. Clearly this is

Letters to the Editor I’m writing today to express my outrage with the Recorder’s decision to fire its opinion editor for being prominent in campus activism. When I found this out I couldn’t believe that of all publications, the Recorder, which was so indignant about the protection of their first amendment rights back in the Mark Rowan days, had fired Marissa Blaszko for exercising the same freedoms you demand as an organization. As a student and regular reader of the Recorder, I am upset that student activity fees support a club (and yes, the Recorder is just a club) that discriminates based on one’s personal political beliefs. I feel as though your readers deserve a more meaningful explanation and response to these accusations especially since on page three of your April 15th issue, you published an article about students who are in support of decriminalizing marijuana. From this, should readers believe that the Recorder leans in favor of marijuana decriminalization? Should the university expel these students for expressing their beliefs on campus because (as you put it) “it creates the opportunity for all viewers and readers to believe that the paper has a certain leaning”? After all, these students represent the school, which ultimately represents your newspaper. Besides, it is already obvious to your readership that the Recorder is generally a more liberal and progressive leaning publication. I didn’t see any conflict of interest with Marissa’s devotion to activism outside of her work as an editor and I demand her reinstatement as opinion editor.

Furthermore, this is a gross neglect of the university to uphold the Constitution and I demand a better explanation for the firing of Marissa Blaszko.

Fondly, Mark Tomasino CCSU student

In response to the letter that appeared in the April 15, 2009 edition and was written by Sean Howard: The dismissal of Marissa Blaszko from the position of Opinion Editor is not a matter of free speech; it is a matter of ethics.

While everyone has a right to their own opinion it was unethical for Ms. Blaszko to sign her name to the petition, especially since she identified herself as an Editor for The Recorder. Doing so was a conflict of interest and a breach of the paper’s code of ethics. Additionally, signing the petition harmed her credibility (as well as The Recorder’s) because it gave the impression that she was representing the political views of the overall newspaper.

This does not mean that anyone who once demonstrated for a political belief or opinion is not welcomed by The Recorder. It means that people, who demonstrate their opinions publicly while serving on The Recorder’s staff, will be subject to penalties for violating their code of ethics.

Finally, it is my opinion that The Recorder should remain objective when it comes to politics because they represent the entire school. It would be unfair for the paper or any of their staff members to promote a certain belief in any way when other members of the campus may not share that same view.

Heather Lusebrink CCSU student

Got something to say?

Write us a 200-300-word signed letter to the editor at ccsurecorder@gmail.com

a conflict of interest because students who are affiliated with certain clubs would have more of an interest in giving money to that club.

In the real world government officials are obliged to eliminate conflicts of interest. There was a national outrage over Dick Cheney’s affiliation with Halliburton even though he had left the company before taking the office of the Vice President.

We understand that there is clearly a difference between real government officials and members of the SGA, and that students are not necessarily held to the same standards as politicians in the real world. We also recognize that the SGA tries their

best to be professional in their procedures.

But members of the SGA are handling other people’s money and they should absolutely try to minimize potential biases of where they believe that money should go.

The SGA has a large responsibility in handling the student activity fees that all students are required to pay.

To be fair to the students who give their money to the SGA, members of the SGA should renounce their interest in other clubs so that they can make objective decisions on how to allot money to the university clubs.

Making SATs Optional is a Positive Step for Universities Shauna Simeone Opinion Editor

Fairfield University has announced that starting in the fall of 2010, SATs will be optional for admission. This is a great policy to enact because it will give more options for students to demonstrate the quality of learner that they are in the best possible light.

Fairfield University applicants who do not submit SAT scores will be required to write an additional essay on their application. Fairfield University’s Web site defended their policy choice and stated, “we are adopting this policy to formalize our ongoing commitment to a holistic review process to evaluate prospective students.”

“Our findings, which are consistent with those of other institutions, are that your high school record in general is a better predictor of future success than your scores on the SATs,” the school added.

In fact, more Universities are adopting this policy every year. Some notable colleges who don’t require the SAT or ACT are: Bates College, Bowdoin College, George Mason University, Rollins College, and Wake Forest University. A Time Magazine article stated that when Bates dropped their SAT requirement, minority applications doubled in number.

The SAT may be beneficial in leveling the playing field for those students who attended extremely competitive high schools, but it also creates a disparity for lower income students who can’t afford the preparation courses and study materials that can improve test scores. The purpose of the SAT was to gauge how well a student would fare in college.

But the SAT has now become a test you can study for. Instead of measuring the quality of students, it mea-

sures who has spent more time and money preparing for the test.

It is smart for Universities to place less emphasis on SAT scores when considering student applications. As Fairfield University believes, looking at the entire application of the student is extremely important.

Class rank, high school grades, and difficulty of classes should be weighed heavily against SAT scores. If a student has high SAT scores due to natural ability, but has lousy grades due to a lack of effort, that student may not be prepared to put in the time and energy that is required to succeed at college.

As a recent high school graduate, I believe the emphasis placed on the SAT is much too great. Students who work hard all throughout high school and have great grades should not have their college opportunities diminished because they performed poorly on one test. Having the option of not submitting SAT scores is a great alternative for students who believe that other aspects of their resume more accurately show the type of students that they are.

Hopefully CCSU will take these factors into account when they are evaluating their admission requirements. The SATs have morphed into a test that reflects the amount of preparation put into studying rather than the intelligence of a student.

This will clearly create a disadvantage for students who have fewer resources to prepare for the test, and can’t afford to continue retaking the test until they are satisfied.

Making SATs an optional admission requirement would be a positive step for CCSU because students would be more able to demonstrate their strengths as students, and this will also be fairer to students who cannot prepare for the SAT to a great extent.

Cautious Naming of Criminal Motivation Tonya Malinowski News Editor

In the April 1 issue of The Recorder, an opinion piece titled “Bias Crime is Simply a Crime” stated that a crime should be punished solely on the act committed, without consideration of motive.

While the article contained provocative points, it also had some holes. Our judicial system in America is based on carefully considering the circumstance and motive of a crime.

In order to seek adequate justice, the jury must be able to consider the past history, psychological state, and intentions of the suspect.In fact, according to the ruling of Furman v Georgia in 1972, “lying in wait, or any other kind of willful, deliberate,

and premeditated killing…shall be deemed murder of the first degree”.

The real point is that we, as Americans living in a culture of fear, are too quick to call something a hate crime. Information on the March 6 case is unavailable from the CCSU police department because the case is still under investigation; however, before the investigation had even begun, the incident was labeled a hate crime.

The danger in this hysteria is that it threatens to perpetuate racism and bias far more than attempt to correct it. If a fight occurs between a white male and a Latino male, and the white male leaves the altercation less injured, it is too often immediately called a hate crime, regardless of motive.

We create perceived social boundaries by using inaccurate terminology, which severely impairs our progress toward equality. All instances of violent crime are technically “hate crimes” regardless of the race, gender or sexuality of the people involved, simply because willingness or desire to cause severe physical harm on another must be born out of hate.

According to the FBI, more than half of police agencies in Connecticut reported at least one hate crime in 2007. If we hope to one day truly become a racially colorblind society, the term “hate crime” needs to be used sparsely and under careful scrutiny.

Contrary to the opinion of previous article’s author, a violent crime based solely on the victim’s race, sex-

uality, etc… is a more severe crime than one rooted in a personal altercation. When a person’s right to exist is targeted, the crime immediately takes on an entirely new facet. The punishment must be more severe or else it threatens our very basic human rights.

We have created such a hypersensitivity to bigotry in this country that it only further perpetuates the stereotypes we are trying so hard to break. A fight between two people of different races, if not solely based on the marginalization of the minority, is just that: a fight. The punishment should always fit the crime, but we should be careful to first determine exactly what that crime is.

6 THE RECORDER Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Upgrade

Hip-Hop Show Pieced Together for a Night of Local Talent

(From Left) New Britain rappers Jaymelodius, QP and Grown Tone Melissa Traynor Editor-in-Chief

After several setbacks, the university radio station and their Urban Director have recently strung together local acts from around the state for Thursday’s lineup – just over a week before the scheduled date of the show.

“It’s going to be called The Future of Entertainment,” said WFCS’s Urban Director Earle Nelson, who has just completed the legwork for putting on the concert last week. “I can’t just classify it as the future of hip-hop – not just that.”

Melissa Traynor | The Recorder

Arranging for friends to perform, and reaching out to distant connections has worked for Nelson and the Programming Director Wayne DeRoy, but scrambling for a date, pleading for a time and space around the student center and negotiating payments and promotion have posed a few difficulties.

Finally assembling the show for Thursday, April 23 at 11 p.m., free and open to the public, in Alumni Hall in the student center, the pair has pulled together a show at the last-minute with expected headliner and Hartford rapper Milo Sheff.

Sheff, who is preparing to release his new album Table of Contents on the Blue Neon Media

Group label, will be headlining Thursday night’s show.

Sheff ’s representative said that he is excited to be performing and has been making appearances at colleges in anticipation of the album release.

Kamaal Lowen, or Kamoflauge, a rapper from Colchester, Conn. will also perform at “The Future of Entertainment”, along with Windsor, Conn.’s Kwame Dankwa, New Britain’s “P-loot”, Grown Tone, QP and Jaymelodius.

Most are just looking to make a name for themselves, Nelson said. For Kamoflauge, a 20-year-old who attends Manchester Community College, he’s just beginning to make radio appearances, such as one a month ago on Nelson’s show “The Mix-Up”.

Lowen appeared with a small entourage on a rainy Friday night to for an interview on the show to provide a preview of his freestyle habits.

Over the course of a half-hour, in two- or three-minute songs, Lowen proved his popculture knowledge as he spilled out references from Tom Clancy novels and well-known musicians.

“Kamoflauge – he’s strictly hip-hop, but I could see him doin’ movies and whatnot,” Nelson said.

“He’s still got some more learning to do, but he’s got a high volume of talent,” he added.

Nelson said that the station thought about booking other local acts with bigger names in the underground rap scene in Hartford, but had to consider their spending first.

He said that Kwame offered to perform for a small cost, an expense that Nelson was happy to meet. Nelson called him a “jack of all trades” and referred to Dankwa’s abilities as a rapper, a producer, a radio personality and an entertainer overall.

“I think maybe three or four years ago, he was on point – I mean, you could throw his name out there,” Nelson said of Dankwa, who DJs to a the 98.3 WILI radio station in Willimantic, Conn. “… Not much else has been said about him.”

He expects that all of the acts will have something different to bring to the table,

whether it’s their ability to make people laugh or deliver politically-driven lyrics.

“With Kwame, you’re going to laugh your ass off – he could make you think about something serious, but then bring in something funny as hell,” Nelson said.

New Britain’s male and female-duo Grown Tone and QP are also scheduled to perform, along with Jaymelodius the Janitor. Selfdescribed musicians in the “feel-good” type of music, the trio said they draw on soul, gospel and jazz music as influences.

“Just the feel good stuff – things that will take you through the whole day and don’t require too much. Just enough to do the job,” Grown Tone said of his inspirations and influences.

QP cited a mix of musical influences she was exposed to as a child.

“I’m into everything from jazz – Art Blakey – to old school Fugees and anything – anything except country,” she said.

“Grown Tone and QP – they could, you know – they got huge potential to be good rappers and you could say mainstream if they’re put in the hands of the right people,” Nelson said.

Nelson himself will be spinning in between acts to keep the crowd’s energy going and will be throwing out free stuff, giveaways.

“Right now me and Wayne are going to be on the ones and twos. We’re going to tag-team this whole DJing thing, mixing,” he said. “We’re going to try to get another act in there, but if we’re only working with two hours, we got to just work with what we got right there,” he added.

An extra act is also in the making – Nelson said that they hope to secure some more time in the auditorium for another local rapper named Decypher.

Martine Bernadel of NAACP will host Thursday’s concert.

There is currently a Facebook group titled “Underground Hip-Hop Show” and the guest list is growing.

4.23 “The Future of Entertainment” @ Alumni Hall, Student Center FREE / 11 p.m.

Business Time with Addison Station Samantha Sullivan Special to The Recorder

Lights are dim, the stage is empty. Club music booms from the house speakers. The boozers booze; the crooners croon; the bartenders, with their end-of-the-night eyes, stare blankly at a thinning crowd.

It’s nearly last call, but the boys from Addison Station are ready for the night after a successful and surprisingly amusing show at Up or On the Rocks in downtown Hartford, Conn.

They mingle, exchanging momentary glances with the ladies of the crowd, down a bottle each and smile in each other’s direction: good set.

“Addison Station: A Linguistic Acoustic Mix of Altruistic Narcissistic Makers-of-Music.

We do some bee-boppin’, some hip-hoppin’ and some jam rockin’. Also, if we pine to, we’ll give you something to dine to and play our ballads instead.” A catchy business card, for sure, and it explains this local two-man band to perfection.

With a mix in musical influences like Jason Mraz, The Lonely Island, Counting Crows and Flight of the Conchords, you can imagine the type of attitudes these guys must carry.

Jeff Kenniston and Trent Gerbers, the 23-year-old men of Addison Station, provide a smooth instrumental blend for their audiences’ auditory pleasures. Kenniston, a CCSU senior, is on keyboard, guitar and back-up vocals while Gerbers is on lead vocals, harmonica and the occasional beatbox.

“We play whatever we feel comes across to most effectively bring about a positive reaction from listeners,” Kenniston explained.

Semi-regulars to pubs and clubs, Addison Station find themselves playing in the same types of venues, frequenting the downtown Hartford scene and New London and Torrington hotspots.

CCSU student Jeff Kenniston and Tren Gerbers make up Addison Station.

“We’re always looking to expand to other markets,” Kenniston said. “We’ve only been playing together as ‘Addison Station’ since January, so we’re just putting our toes in the water and seeing which places work for us.”

Audiences are catching on, no matter where they play, and the tone is set in the first few songs.

“We always encourage [audience participation] – although it is more prevalent at smaller venues, where we are more physically connected to the audience and can get right in their faces.

Just the other night in Niantic, we had an audience member sing a song to his girlfriend while I played, and also had a girl play [Jason Mraz’s

hit] ‘I’m Yours’ on the piano with us,” Kenniston said. “We love it when everyone gets involved.”

Though it’s difficult not to get involved in the music when Kenniston and Gerbers set up songs like “Lost and Found” with a story about one of the member’s most memorable onenight stand, joking that “We all have them at least once.”

The song describes the awkward search for underwear and other belongings strewn across the floor and around the apartment, and the smirks on the faces of numerous audience members prove that the storytellers are right – most of us know exactly how that search goes down.

Photo: Addison Station

So they tell stories and try to relate their music to audience members. What else describes a typical show for Addison Station?

“We try to take requests, and are consciously making an effort to highlight our original music and avoid the typical bar-band scene,” Kenniston joked while poking fun at the typical Bon Jovi, “Livin’ on a Prayer” cover bands. “Our set is currently very cover-laden, but we’re trying to network with prominent local original artists.”

Catch their next sets in Hartford on April 23 at The Tavern Downtown and April 25 at Up Or On The Rocks. Be sure to stop in for their soothing ballads or perhaps their musical antics.

7

THE RECORDER / Wednesday, April 22, 2009 / UPGRADE

k-os Yes! Crown Royalist Recordings March 31, 2009

Neil Young Fork in the Road Reprise Records April 7, 2009

The Decemberists Hazards of Love Capitol Records March 24, 2009

The Yes! Karma Tour, shows that he doesn’t make music to be famous.

On Yes!’s special edition k-os had a contest that allowed his fans to remix his songs for a chance to be featured on the extra disc. The remixes are forgettable and not better than the original but it’s the gesture that counts. An artist that has been around as long as he has opening up and letting fans be apart of his work is commendable.

He could have phoned it in. He could have rested on his laurels. He could have settled, but he didn’t.

Instead of cashing in on his god-given talent by going mainstream with music that can be described as normal he keeps trying to do it on his own terms.

If you give Yes! a listen and don’t like it, please, listen to his other albums. k-os is an artist that doesn’t repeat himself.

Popular Canadian Hip-Hop artist, k-os, released Yes!, his fourth studio album last week and it’s a strange departure from his previous two.

The best way to describe this MC is that he’s strange. His previous recent albums, Joyful Rebellion and Atlantis, were both genre-bending journeys through his musical tastes.

Yes! marks his return to Hip-Hop and he brought some tricks back with him.

The album starts with a choir sample that sounds like it was taken from a john woo movie on the track “Zamboni”. A chunky synth line during the chorus is the only thing reminiscent of a bass line. At first listen, it might not seem like anything special

but after the second or third there’s a strange anticipation for certain parts.

The entire album is simultaneously familiar and distant. The theme is classic but the production is otherworldly. Despite all these contradictions the entire album fits perfectly.

House trance is mixed with dub on “Eye Know There’s Something Going On”. A loop from Phantom Planet’s “California” is used on “I Wish I Knew Natalie Portman” that brings a level mainstream to the album.

Songs like his first single “4 3 2 1” are more traditional and remind us that he’s isn’t making this progressive hip hop for any reason other than it’s the kind of music he wants to listen to.

Like in his previous records, k-os’ voice jumps the border between reggae, rapping, singing. Every song

provides so much variety it’s hard not to like something from every song.

That is one of my complaints about Yes!, his flow is so natural that when he takes the next verse off to sing it almost seems like a shame. He can sing well though, it isn’t like Kanye using a vocoder.

His voice sounds sweet and has plenty of heart behind it but the man is so good gliding through lyrics it seems there aren’t enough minutes on the track. This isn’t an album that will change lives or even change minds. This is hip-hop though, in the truest sense of the term.

I have a feeling this is as popular as he’s going to be. It’s not everyday that a Canadian hip-hop artist breaks into mainstream, but maybe he knows this. k-os has been indie since the mid 90’s and his latest announcement that he will be performing in “name your own price” tour, called

After an album dedicated to anti-war sentiments, Neil Young returns with Fork in the Road, an album criticizing the auto industry and the need for change in fuel waste.

A hard-rock/blues-rock album, Young sticks to his classic rock roots with blues formed lyrics sung by his always angelic voice. He uses distorted guitars and tight solos to give the songs a stronger presence to even out the sound of his voice.

All of the songs on the album have something to do with cars or the current economic situation of America and the auto industry.

“When Worlds Collide”, “Just Singing a Song” and “Off the Road” are some of the highlighted tracks.

“When Worlds Collide” is a great introductory track to what lays

ahead in the album with its opening blues chords. The small solos in between the chords and the longer solo in the middle of the song follow the same path of classic blues solos.

“Off the Road” and “Light a Candle” are the slower-paced songs on the album with “Light a Candle” being a folk song that talks about looking ahead to the future and not concentrating on the darkness that America’s currently in.

“Off the Road” is a relaxing song that follows the same lines as “Light a Candle” for looking ahead but also sets the mood of a calm drive.

Fork in the Road is a very nostalgic album that recalls classic automobiles and what cars used to be in comparison to what people drive in

modern day America. “And they rode in the heavy Continental/she was born to run on a proud highway,” sings Young in “Johnny Magic”.

Young hopes for a change in how people think of cars and hope that they’ll change their environmentally unfriendly ways. “Now she goes long range on domestic green fuel/100 miles per gallon is the continental rule,” sings Young.

The consequences of not caring about what fuel people are using and their effecting their environment is brought up in “Cough Up the Bucks.”

It looks at how people care about their significant others and themselves and then question where all their money has gone after spending it all on gas.

Fork in the Road ends with title track “Fork in the Road,” that goes beyond showing the effects on others that the fuel problem has caused and shows them effecting Young as well.

“I’m a big rock star/my sales have tanked/but I still got you,” sings Young.

Young’s nostalgic album works to give hope to what may lie in the future for America and how it’s up to Americans to create the change.

(UWIRE) – The Decemberists’ Colin Meloy is a different breed of frontman. Though contributing his acoustic guitar and vocals to the band may have played a hand in making it one of indie rock’s most popular bands, what sets him apart is his love for British folk music.

The Decemberists’ latest release, The Hazards of Love, goes after one of rock music’s most coveted concepts: the rock opera. Meloy and the gang put together 17 tracks for the new album that was initially slated to become a play, but later had the idea scratched because Meloy though it was “unstageable”.

The story follows a young woman, her shape-shifting lover, a queen of the forest and a rake, who is hired by the queen to capture and kidnap the young woman. This may seem a bit much when it comes to cramming

plot into songs, but for fans familiar with The Decemberists’work, it is the usual.

The album nicely shows that the indie folk style the band typically exhibits can be seamlessly morphed into hard rock riffs without losing Meloy’s acoustic guitar as the centerpiece.

Lead guitarist Chris Funk shines in the tracks “A Bower Scene” and “The Abduction of Margaret,” in which he deploys dark guitar effects to accompany the even darker lyrics.

“The Rake’s Song” stands out the most on the album because it contains a simple acoustic guitar pattern and appears to be the most radiofriendly. That is until the listener pays close attention to the lyrics. The rake’s menacing character is fully explained in this song, telling a substory of a man who is left with three

children after his wife dies, and sings almost joyously how he killed each of his kids because they were unwanted.

Fans of The Decemberists may find dark lyrics of “The Rake’s Song” matched with upbeat music a reoccurring theme from past albums, but newcomers to the band could easily walk away from this song appalled.

Meloy lyrically allows the Rake’s children a bit of retribution towards the end of the story by having their spirits attack him.

Although Meloy is usually right on point with his character developments and plot progressions in his songs, The Hazards of Love becomes ambiguous at times.

This is the first time The Decemberists have had one story flow throughout the entire album, and it appears to veer off course in

different moments, throwing off the continuity of the tale. It is difficult to distinguish where the story is because the lyrics tend to focus a bit too much on imagery.

The new album’s concept, though an honorable attempt, appears to fly over our heads. The story becomes uninteresting and awkwardly dark, and the music is less than what we have come to expect from Meloy and his band.

The Hazards of Love shows exactly how far The Decemberists can take their style, and proves it is further than anybody really wanted them to go.

Charles Desrochers Asst. Lifestyle Editor

Matt Kiernan News Editor

Stephen Shepperd

The Battalion | Texas A&M

Local Band Article 19 to Perform at Spring Week Concert Samantha Sullivan Special to The Recorder

Photo: Article 19

Jim Townsend sets the beat on drums; Jeff Kenniston strums his acoustic guitar, Rick Fritsch and Doug Parkinson roll in on lead guitar and bass, respectively and singer Brett Wilson’s voice falls from the club’s speakers.

The guys start one particular Friday night’s performance with “Free,” an audience favorite, setting the tone of the night for this “up and coming” Connecticut pop-rock band Article 19.

The band will be performing on at the CCSU Spring Week Concert on Friday, April 24 before headliners Streetlight Manifesto and Big D and the Kids Table.

The balance between instruments and vocals is fair, as each part can be heard clearly and levels with the others. In other words, there are no stage hogs, each member working

together for every set to create the best-sounding performance they are capable of achieving.

All seasoned musicians, it isn’t difficult to tell that each of the guys have something special to bring to the table. Townsend, according to the band’s MySpace, “has been studying, recording and performing throughout Connecticut and New York for years.”

With such a combination of musicians, it’s no wonder A19 won “Best New Group” and “Best Pop/ Rock Group” at the 2008 Hartford Advocate Grand Band Slam. A serious and original band, these guys wouldn’t settle for anything less.

Though they take pride in playing original music, with songs like their newest singles “Opportunity” and “Bringin’ Down the House” – a hit with its own choreography – they also cover recognizable tunes from a variety of music genres, including “Tempted” by Squeeze, “Every Little

Thing She Does” by The Police and “Long Train Runnin’” by the Doobie Brothers.

The group gets around 200 hits a day on their MySpace profile, their manager, Laura Townsend Cretella explained.

One of their most popular songs, “Save Me,” has a record alone of over 27,000 plays and was also named Song of the Week by Harris Decker – a contributing writer for the online entertainment magazine Buzzine – on his blog “The Truth About Music” last October.

As you can imagine, this fiveman lineup has the talent to attract large audiences and the likeability to keep their fans entertained. It’s clear that there are big things in store down the road, with two new songs – “Look At Me Now,” and “How It’s Gonna Be” – on their first EP Look At Me Now be released on April 25, as well as an appearance during the Spring Week Concert.

8

THE RECORDER / Wednesday, April 22, 2009 / UPGRADE

Blackberry Storm Remains Imitator

Tonya Malinowski News Editor

Since the birth of the iPhone in mid-2007, it seems competitors have been releasing new smartphone models every week. The first of these “iPhone killers” to stand any sort of chance is Blackberry’s newest endeavor, the Storm.

As a child of Verizon, the Storm is connected to the strongest network available and offers the same reliable service Verizon is known for.

However, the Storm is clearly heavier than the iPhone (5.5 ounces compared to the iPhone’s 4.7) and is definitely noticeable in your pocket.

The screen is smaller as well, making the extra bulk even more of an issue.

The most innovative thing the Storm brings to the table is its one-ofa-kind, clickable touch screen, or SurePress. This allows users to highlight something by touching the screen and then select it by pushing down. The screen is crisp and bright, seen easily even in direct sunlight.

Innovation is not lacking with the Storm, but the execution is what’s

flawed. The keyboard is almost impossible to type on at a brisk pace, and the auto-correct feature gets annoying when it changes normal colloquialisms.

One upside is that the keyboard usually makes any text not carefully reviewed before sending seem like drunken babble, even on a Tuesday afternoon, so when the texts are actually are drunken babble, it could slip under the radar.

The keyboard also gets in the way of applications like the web browser and navigation system.

Swiping downward on the screen is supposed to make the keyboard disappear, but this action rarely registered. I would have loved to see a “done” button to hide it.

The interface is very businesslike and lacks the colorful, engaging look of the iPhone or even of Blackberry’s previous model, the Pearl. The Storm does boast the ability to read third-party applications, such as Microsoft Word, which can be useful for opening email attachments, but the application selection

available pales in comparison to the options from the iPhone 3G. The Facebook application is terrible, and I ended up just using the Web browser for my Facebooking needs. The application is tough to navigate and only displays limited profile information. The news feed isn’t displayed and you can only navigate to a friend’s page by a tedious search function.

Arguably the most noticeable issue is the phone’s lag time. When clicking the unlock key, there can be a several second delay before the display responds.

Impatient users, like myself, may find themselves clicking again thinking it didn’t work, only to relock the screen again.

The email compatibility is just as simple as expected from Blackberry’s reputation. The program doesn’t cut the HTML out of emails, and PDF’s and Microsoft Office attachments are easily opened.

The Web browser is not nearly as user friendly as the iPhone. It delivers sites almost exclusively as the

mobile version unless the user intentionally changes browser settings to run as Firefox or Internet Explorer.

The VZW navigation system is one of the areas the Blackberry really shines. The service is only $9.99 a month and Verizon has done a great job continually optimizing the GPS. Routes load fast and the phone’s speaker is louder than any other.

The entertainment features are still struggling, as Verizon is yet to add their V CAST music and video services to Blackberry.

The phone will not sync with iTunes without additional software and even then will not play songs purchased from the iTunes store.

Another bragging point for the Storm is its 3.2 megapixel camera.

Photos are clear and color quality is pretty excellent for a phone camera.

The downfall is that the phone is slow, so taking pictures of a subject in motion is nearly impossible.

However, a still shot of Fenway Park boasting bright blues and greens came out perfectly clear when taken with a steady hand.

The battery life is disappointing. With some heavy texting and one GPS usage, the Storm had less than 10 percent of its battery left after only seven hours of being unplugged.

The Storm was an ambitious effort for Blackberry, and a generally impressive one. The navigation system and network quality are great selling points, but the sluggish software gets annoying quickly.

For Blackberry to perfect a superior keyboard on its other models only to abandon it on the Storm was a questionable move.

Because its flaws are so frustrating and outweigh the phone’s benefits, I would recommend holding off on the purchase until Verizon and Blackberry’s developers, Research in Motion, can work out the major kinks and release a better version.

Crank: High Voltage Offers Adrenaline-Fueled Fun Michael Walsh

Asst. Entertainment

Photo: Lionsgate

To dismiss Crank: High Voltage as just a simple sequel to the adrenaline-fueled, non-stop action film Crank would be doing serious injustice to the truly unique and fascinating film it is.

A lot of thoughts passed throughout my head during High Voltage. To give you an understanding of what type of film this is, hardly any of my thoughts had to do with whether main character Chev Chelios (Jason Statham) would find his heart he so desperately is seeking after.

Instead, I was constantly wondering how the hell the director/writer combo of Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, who are also responsible for the first Crank, would top a previous absurd but exhilarating scene with something more ludicrous.

Chelios, who was left for dead at the end of Crank, awakens only to find that his heart has been removed.

Chelios must attempt to find and recover his heart while surviving long enough with the help of electric shocks that help energize the prosthetic heart inside of him.

In many ways, High Voltage is the strange bastard son of a French New Wave filmmaker like Jean-Luc Godard, who held the experimental and radical visual and editing style dear to heart and an action fiend like John Woo, whose over the top action

sequences helped change the face of the genre. In simpler terms, the Crank series is this incredibly unique breed of filmmaking that almost shouldn’t work as well as it does. There haven’t been many films like this.

According to reports from last May, the film was being shot with cheaper HDV cameras to keep costs down. While being a smart economic maneuver, it also paid dividends stylistically. Neveldine and Taylor acquire this fresh style of guerilla filmmaking that gives High Voltage its own identity among the rest of the all action, little plot films. This recognizable and fresh feel is what separates the two Crank films from being standard fare.

Not much needs to be said about the cast. Jason Statham has sadly become one of the most type casted actors of our generation as he can’t seem to burst out of the typical tough guy, high energy roles as seen in Crank and The Transporter. Both Amy Smart and Dwight Yoakam reprise their likeable roles as well. The most notable addition to the cast is cult star David Carradine, known for films such as Death Race 2000.

Carradine plays the man behind the taking of Chelios’ heart, Poon Dong, and gives quite the funny and scene stealing performance.

The true element of High Voltage to feast on is of course the absurd and ridiculously over the top action and happenings. This film makes

other recent action tour-de-forces like the Clive Owen led Shoot ‘Em Up, which featured a man delivering a baby during a gunfight, seem almost dull. Neveldine and Taylor progressively top each and every previously insane scene with something even more satisfying.

Outlandish characters, delectable violence and perfectly placed nudity characterize this film that remarkably was without a dull moment.

It’s no secret that viewers of High Voltage must go into the film knowing that the main objective of both Neveldine and Taylor was probably to see how much carnage one man on a course of destruction could cause during one afternoon in Los Angeles. This they achieved.

What I didn’t figure to get was what I’d go as far as to call good filmmaking. Most action films have been stereotyped as being cheap vehicles of entertainment without any artistic expression. Well, there are exceptions, and the Crank series just happens to be one of those. Neveldine and Taylor are onto something here.

They certainly have two bright careers ahead of them, whether they continue to work together or not.

Crank: High Voltage is one of the better ways to spend a Friday night inside the local cinema right now. If you aren’t energized before the film starts, you’ll surely be amped up by the time the credits roll.

THE RECORDER / Wednesday, April 22, 2009 / UPGRADE

Harvard’s Yardfest Draws Record Numbers

CCSU Raced to the Moon

9

Ayman Elhawli

Special to The Recorder

Ratatat played the 2009 Hardvard Yardfest.

Edward-Michael Dussom and Wyatt P. Gleichauf Harvard Crimson | Harvard

(UWIRE) – Despite the inhospitable chill and Sunday-night scheduling, singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles and electronic duo Ratatat drew hordes of undergraduates to Yardfest 2009 in Tercentenary Theater Sunday evening.

Initial estimates from the College Events Board, the studentstaffed body responsible for planning the event, placed Sunday’s attendance just around 7,100, slightly above last year’s figure, despite the considerably colder weather.

“Everything went better than we could have ever hoped for,” said James A. McFadden, the CEB’s vicechair. “It was surprising that it went so well.”

But despite the on-campus hype that built quickly after their appear-

ance was made official, Ratatat disappointed some Yardfest-goers by limiting their repertoire to their original electronic material and not venturing into their better-known remixed work.

“I hoped they would play more from the remix albums,” said Peter Fodroczy ’11, maintaining that nonetheless, “They were still really good.”

The digital duo elicited may spectator screams throughout their performance, taking the stage at approximately 7 p.m. underneath a shower of glow-sticks and inflatable beach-balls. Their set progressed with eerie clips of the band’s music videos playing in the background— at one point, band member Mike Stroud wildly screamed “I love Harvard!”

Bareilles, in contrast, opened the festivities at 5:30 sharp, after the crowd had feasted on the corn dogs, kebabs, and similarly carnivalesque

Photo: Flickr stock.

fare. The songstress played her poprock hit ‘Love Song’ only after a preliminary set of largely unknown numbers, taunting the crowd at the beginning of one initial track, “It’s not what you think it is!”

On her third-to-last track, Bareilles finally relented, to the welcoming cries of a large sector of the gathered mass.

“Love Song” has been Bareilles first and only chart-climber, reaching a peak position of number four on Billboard’s Hot 100 in the summer of 2007.

While opinions on the weather, the food, and the performances varied widely, many students simply expressed gratitude for the opportunity to commingle with friends and classmates.

Max R. Selver ’11 echoed this sentiment, commenting, “I’m just happy there’s music playing out loud right now.”

Both artists were due to make appearances at the Cambridge Queen’s Head Pub after the event.

The men of Ratatat arrived around 9:15 p.m.

Asked about the quality of the show, Stroud replied, “Once the sun went down, it got better.”

He further elaborated that he was “more psyched for the security guards than the students” in preparing for the show.

His bandmate, Evan Mast, insisted on replying on paper, commenting only, “KAMBLOCK RENSALEAR BAGEL RUB.” Mast also reflected on the quality of food offered, writing “THES KABLAHS ARE VARIOUS BRANGE RENSE.”

In Huntsville, Ala., where “the sky is not the limit,” students from Central Connecticut State University competed in NASA’s 16th Annual Great Moonbuggy Race.

The competition was held on April 3 and 4 at the Marshall Space Center and was comprised of 75 teams from the United States and abroad.

CCSU’s debut race marked the first time a university from Connecticut participated in this event. Team members Cristina Cook, Aaron Danenberg, Hitesh Shah, Kimberly Summers, Jonathan Hrenko, Elias Geagea, Praveen Varghese, and Nick Cegelka designed and built the two-person humanpowered vehicle.

The team worked on the moonbuggy for the Senior Capstone Design Project under the advisement of Dr. Viatcheslav Naoumov and with funding from the Connecticut College Space Grant Consortium and CCSU School of Engineering and Technology.

The moonbuggy, like the original lunar rover, had to collapse into the space of a 4-by-4 cube. It also had to be light enough to be carried 20 feet by the two drives, one male and one female.

During the race the vehicle traversed a twisting seven-tenths of a mile course that simulated the lunar surface.

In the first of two races, a critical bolt broke resulting in an incomplete lap. On the following day, after making the repairs, the CCSU team set out on their second and final attempt to complete the course.

Drivers Shah and Summers were able to successfully traverse 2/3 of the course before time ran out.

The team that recently left Huntsville looks to pass on their experience in manufacturing, fabrication, designing, project management and teamwork on to next year’s moonbuggy team.

Ayman Elhawli is a senior in mechanical engineering at CCSU and part of this year’s moonbuggy team.

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THE RECORDER / Wednesday, April 22, 2009 / SPORTS

SPORTS STARTS ON BACKPAGE

Dorau the [Sports] Explorer:

Athletes Need to Perform on the Field and Behind the Mic To score a goal, hit a home run, or set a new personal best is a tremendous accomplishment at the collegiate level, especially in Kyle Dorau Division I. Sports Editor Watching the athletes here at Central on a daily basis has reinforced my thoughts on just how talented these students are.

Yet one thing still amazes me.

For all their talent on the field and confidence in what they do, if I stick a microphone in their face after the game, they become a deer in headlights.

With Central Connecticut State being one of the smaller D-I schools in the Northeast, we won’t get as much media attention and recognition as some of the others in our backyard. Part of the issue may be the fact that our athletes did not get a lot of exposure as they came up through high school. Maybe the post-game interviews are a new, and almost shocking concept.

That’s what I’m here for.

Welcome to Athlete Interviews 101.

Today, I’m going to instruct all of you on the finer points of talking to us media types.

Obviously, you’re all exhausted and I’m sure mentally drained after a competition, and the last thing you want to do is have to sit down with us for 10 minutes. But the thing is, none of us are looking for you to speak that long. If you can tell us what we want

to hear in a minute or two, that’s perfect for everyone involved.

The first lesson is to avoid technicalities. When we ask what’s been different for you as of late, don’t go into mechanics of your game. There are too many athletes for all of us to understand the intricacies of each one’s physical skills. And if it’s the god’s honest truth that your elbow has been flying out and that’s the only difference in your performance, use it as an opportunity to talk about the coaching staff and what a great job they did of helping you with it.

Secondly, show some personality. We see you guys joking, laughing, having fun on the field, so let your character show in the interview.

Make a little joke to get comfortable.

We’ll laugh. Just be yourself.

In our most important lesson of the day, don’t spout cliches. Please. I know you’ve heard other athletes say

that they “give it 100 percent” and “take it one game at a time,” but you’re better than that. Phrases like those are just meaningless buzzwords that professionals say so they can get home faster.

Our preferred athletes and coaches are the ones who don’t even have to be prompted to speak. That’s why I love covering Men’s Basketball.

When Howie sits down, you better have your recorder on, because he’s going to fly right into ten minutes of article-writing gold. If you can just give thoughts on your performance and the game in general when we point our microphone your way, you’ll quickly become one of our favorite athletes instantly.

The underlying theme here is that we, as the media, are here to help you. Sometimes we have to ask the tough questions when you fail. While it may be tough to acknowledge that

you just didn’t have it today or your best just wasn’t good enough, it’s a great opportunity to show perseverance and maturity. If you can put it in perspective and handle it with grace and class, we’re going to make sure that you are recognized for doing so.

Maybe it’s not true for every reporter out there, but I think that goes for the vast majority, myself included.

If we aren’t interviewing you and you feel you‘ve made an impact on the game, come seek us out.

Getting quotes from athletes fills a lot of space in our stories. We’re not going to turn down an opportunity at freebies. If it makes our job easier, we’re all for it.

Look at the interview as another facet of the game. Display the same amount of skill and talent that you show in the actual competition itself, and it will be a breeze.

Track Coach Finishes 24th in Boston Marathon Women’s Lax Falls to Sacred ccsubluedevils.com Heart 12-4 on Senior Day Central Connecticut assistant track and cross-country coach Eric Blake finished 24th at the Boston Marathon this morning. His time of two hours, 23 minutes and 54 seconds was an improvement on last year’s finish and made Blake the ninth American to cross the line in Boston, MA. A year ago Blake was the eighth American to finish and placed 23rd overall, but was 36 seconds slower, finishing in 2:24:30. The New Britain, CT resident has had many running achievements recently. He was 23rd at the World Mountain Running Championships in Valais, Switzerland in September and won the Mount Washington Road Race this past summer. Blake currently holds the world record for the treadmill marathon. He finished the 26.2 miles in 2:21.40 back in 2006.

CCSUBlueDevils.com

Photo: CCSUBlueDevils.com

Blue Devils Earn Northeast Conference Doubleheader Split at Wagner, Pick Up 7-5 Win in Game Two

Koehler Posts Three-Hit Afternoon at Long Island, Blue Devils Fall Twice CCSUBlueDevils.com

Central Connecticut (6-27, 2-8) lost 6-0 and 3-0 at Long Island (2014, 10-1) in Northeast Conference road play.

Sophomore Erica Koehler had a pair of singles in the opener. She doubled in the second contest, while sophomore Katherine Knowles singled twice.

An RBI ground rule double off the bat of sophomore Bianca Mejia gave Long Island a 1-0 lead in the second inning of the first game. The Blackbirds added three runs in the fourth, and a two-run home run by Mejia in the fifth accounted for the game’s final runs.

Junior Jaclyn Logan and sophomore Kendall Sours each had a single for the Blue Devils.

Sophomore Elizabeth Montemurro gave up six runs, three earned, on eight hits over five innings.

Freshman Abby Harpp completed the game with a perfect sixth.

Mejia finished 2-for-3 with four RBI to lead the LIU offense. Junior Blaire Porter picked up the win on the mound. She surrendered four hits and struck out seven.

The second game started off as a pitcher’s duel. Neither Blue Devil senior starter Rachel Brenneman nor Long Island senior Jenny Giles allowed a hit over the first three innings.

Central Connecticut had two hits in the fourth but could not plate a

run. LIU broke up Brenneman’s nohit bid in the final half of the fourth but also did not get on the board.

The Blackbirds put the only runs up in the sixth inning. Junior Mariesha Marker walked and stole second to start the three-run stanza.

Senior Renae Beauchman drove Marker in, and freshman Sterling Hoham hit a two-run homer to make it 3-0.

Giles completed the win, allowing just three hits while striking out four. Brenneman gave up the three runs on three hits with four strikeouts.

Central Connecticut will continue Northeast Conference road play tomorrow. The Blue Devils will

Senior captain Alice Lee recorded 15 saves in a 12-4 home loss to Sacred Heart (9-6, 6-1) on Friday afternoon.

Central Connecticut (1-15, 1-7) received goals from four different players, including senior captain Stephanie John as the Blue Devils lost in their final game of the 2009 season.

Lee, John, senior captain Jill Pomposi, and senior manager Michelle Downey were recognized before the game for their outstanding achievements on and off the field at CCSU. The Blue Devils got out of the gate quickly when junior Lyndsey Mastandrea scored an unassisted goal exactly one minute into play to take a 1-0 lead. Unfortunately, that would be the only lead of the game for CCSU. Sacred Heart’s senior duo of Mary Montesarchio and Amanda Williams gave the Pioneers a 2-1 lead when they assisted each other on back-to-back goals.

Central Connecticut sophomore Michele Conway tied the game for the final time at 2-2 on an unassisted goal with 18:07 remaining in the first half. Montesarchio, Williams and junior Carissa Hauser scored the next three goals of the game for Sacred Heart to stretch out to a 5-2 lead.

Blue Devil freshman Alexa Smead gave CCSU a spark heading into halftime as she scored off a Courtney Mooney assist with 3:25 to play in the opening frame.

It was all Sacred Heart in the second half as the Pioneers scored six straight goals to open up a 11-3 lead halfway through the final period. Montesarchio and Williams each recorded two goals and one assist during the stretch. John had the only CCSU goal in the second half and Sacred Heart came away with the 12-4 win.

Sophomore Cara Momnie tallied a team high four caused turnovers and three ground balls for CCSU, while Mooney added four ground balls to her one assist on the afternoon. Mastandrea and sophomore Jessica Roberts also picked up three ground balls in the defeat.

Lee finished with a game high 15 saves and one ground ball for the Blue Devils.

Montesarchio and Williams finished with four goals and two assists and three draw controls each. Hauser tallied one goal, two assists and three draw controls, while freshman Alicia Fuchs scored two goals in the win.

Junior goalkeeper Chelsea Wagner stopped 11 shots for the Pioneers.

Central Connecticut finishes the 2009 season at 1-15 overall and 1-7 in the Northeast Conference.

Sacred Heart improves to 9-6 for the season in 6-1 in NEC action. The Pioneers will play in their final regular season game at home against Wagner on Sunday April 19 at 1 p.m.

Sacred Heart has clinched a spot in the upcoming NEC Tournament to be held on April 24 and 26 at the highest overall seed.

Photo: CCSUBlueDevils.com

face Wagner in doubleheader action beginning at noon.

Central Connecticut (7-28, 3-9) split a Northeast Conference road doubleheader versus Wagner (16-26, 4-10) on Sunday afternoon.

The Blue Devils bounced back for a 7-5 win in the second game after losing the opener 11-3 in six innings. Junior Jaclyn Logan and sophomores Kendall Sours and Erica Koehler each had two hits in game two.

Senior Rachel Brenneman collected the win on the mound.

Junior Tiffany Erickson and freshman Kelli Griffiths had two hits apiece in the first contest.

Photo: CCSUBlueDevils.com

THE RECORDER / Wednesday, April 22, 2009 / SPORTS

Epps Drives in 11 Runs in Final Three Games During Weekend Matchup with Bobcats

11

Continued from page 12

With one out, Ben Farina hit a ground ball that took a nasty hop on Sean Allaire, resulting in a double down the left field line. The next batter, Brian Monack, hit a ground ball that would go right through Allaire’s legs for an error.

“Errors happen, they’re a part of the game,” explained Roberts. “I really never lost confidence in my defense, they’ve picked me up all year, so I tried to pick them up for a change.” With runners on second and third and just one out, Roberts did just that. He induced a ground ball right back to the mound, followed by a flyout to right field to escape the inning unscathed.

The defense quickly improved when Roberts was bailed out of a jam in the fifth inning by a Casey Walko running catch in foul territory. The following frame, Michael Amanti laced a sharp ground ball towards Blue Devils second baseman Mitch Wells. It took a bad hop on the infield dirt and changed direction, but the freshman infielder made a barehanded stab and fired to first for a highlight-reel out.

Heading into the eighth inning, the game was 4-2 in favor of the Blue Devils. Both teams would go to their bullpen with one out, and the results were similar. Offense, and lots of it.

Monack, who started in center field for the Bobcats came on in relief of starter Joe Duffy, who was saddled with the loss. He made an error on a come backer, and surrendered an RBI double to Epps.

Monack would face Epps again in the ninth with the bases loaded, and suffered a similar fate. Epps crushed a double deep to right center field to clear the bases and give Central an 11-5 lead.

Chris Chagnon came on in relief of Roberts in the eighth, but struggled to get outs. He gave up three hits in the eighth inning, and allowed a two-run home run in the ninth to Amanti, his second of the season. Despite the poor bullpen per-

Edward Gaug | The Recorder

Senior Casey Wako makes a spectacular catch to take away a hit.

formance, Central was able to hang on for the victory.

CCSU dropped the first game of the four-game weekend series against the Bobcats 7-2, but rebounded to sweep Saturday’s doubleheader and take Sunday’s contest. This weekend, the Blue Devils head to Long Island University for a fourgame set against the Black Birds.

LIU currently sits at sixth in the Northeast Conference at 5-7 behind Central who is in a tie for third with Sacred Heart University. The weekend series will kickoff at 3 p.m. on Friday.

Mitch Wells goes for the double-play as Kyle Zarotney (20) watches from the outfield.

Edward Gaug | The Recorder

Ken Kerski struck out six during his complete game victory on Saturday.

Wildcats Maul Blue Devils Lacrosse Continued from page 12

and defensive lapses certainly did not help Central’s cause.

Once again, after a Herter goal, CCSU got the wind knocked out of them as UNH answered right back.

This time, Ian Osgood of New Hampshire raced in from midfield, made a 15-yard beeline for the net, and virtually unopposed fired a hard

shot past Gaeta for another momentum-deflating goal.

The Blue Devils struggled to break out of their zone and mount offensive pressure against the Wildcats.

“They moved the ball faster, and our defense was basically watching the ball,” said CCSU midfielder

Mike Gacek. “They’re just a fast break team, and we’re not.”

The fast breaks resulted in a total of 52 New Hampshire shots over the course of the game.

Matt House stood out for the Blue Devils late in the first half, as he had a pair of athletic goals to try and get Central’s offense going.

The Blue Devils found few scoring opportunities against the Wildcats’ tough defense.

“I was just trying to beat my man and scramble their defense up, and it worked,” said House.

For the Blue Devils, it was a tough game against a strong nonconference foe.

“We didn’t hustle as much in the first half as we did in the second,” admitted House.

CCSU men’s lacrosse looks to rebound this week, as they continue their lengthy homestand to close out the regular season.

Friday they face the U.S. Coast Guard Academy at 8pm, and Saturday they host the University of Maine at 6pm on Arute Field.

Edward Gaug | The Recorder

Sports 4.22

12

Ex-Epps-tional Performance

Pat Epps Drives in 11 Runs Against Bobcats

THE RECORDER Wednesday, April 22 , 2009

CCSU Defeats Assumption in Card-laden Thriller

Edward Gaug | The Recorder File

Christopher Boulay Asst. Sports Editor

Pat Epps leads all Blue Devils with 33 RBI this season.

Kyle Dorau Sports Editor

Pat Epps stared back at the home plate umpire after striking out looking on three pitches in the first inning of Sunday’s game at Quinnipiac.

The look on his face conveyed disgust and determination, as if saying “you just wait.”

The wait was worth it for the Blue Devils (16-12, 6-5) as Epps helped power Central to an 11-7 victory over the Bobcats (10-23, 3-9),

collecting hits in each of his next five at-bats.

The CCSU designated hitter pounded out three doubles en route to five RBIs, adding to his team-high total of 33. “It was just our time to start hitting,” said Epps. “We hadn’t played well the last couple of weeks, and finally we’re just starting to click together like we should.”

CCSU head coach Charlie Hickey acknowledges the talent of Epps, but expects a high standard of performance out of him. “I may make it sound minimal, but that’s what you’re supposed to do,” he said. “I’m

Edward Gaug | The Recorder

not giving him more credit than he deserves. He’s supposed to get up there in the middle of the order and hit the ball hard.”

Despite the final score that might suggest otherwise, the game was a pitchers’ duel for the first seven innings. Central rode the arm of senior and New Britain native Derek Roberts for seven and a third innings as the lefty struck out a season-high eight batters. He mixed his fastball and slider well in order to limit Quinnipiac to just two runs heading into the eighth inning.

“He’s a senior. There’s some accountability and some responsibility

that goes with that,” said Hickey. “He had to come out here and give us a chance to play this type of game. And that’s what he did.” With the victory, Roberts improved to 3-1 on the season.

The southpaw allowed just two base runners in the first two innings, setting the tone for the rest of his outing. “I’ve been struggling in my last couple starts,” admitted Roberts. “It just gave me a lot more confidence.”

He would need that confidence in the fourth inning as shaky defense at the hot corner got him into a jam.

See Epps Drives in 11 Page 11

Wildcats Maul Blue Devils Lacrosse Kyle Dorau Sports Editor

The University of New Hampshire imposed their will upon CCSU Men’s Lacrosse Club, taking a 18-6 decision at Arute Field on Saturday.

Matt Herter and Matt House each led the way for the Blue Devils with two goals in defeat.

The Wildcats jumped out to a sizeable lead, scoring early and often.

Trailing 5-0, Central was able to get on the board. Herter took a shot from a tough angle that snuck inside the far post past UNH goalie Matt Siskey.

Unfortunately for the Blue Devils, they were unable to build momentum off their first tally, as New Hampshire would respond just 33 seconds later.

Midfielder Steve Eurieck cut into the slot, took a pass from behind the net, faked high, then shot low to beat CCSU net minder Nick Gaeta.

Harter and the Blue Devils did not give up, as moments later he took a pass behind the net, and with a defender on his back, put in another shot from a difficult angle to cut the deficit back to four.

The Wildcats’ attack continued to put pressure on the Blue Devils, See Wildcats Page 11

The Blue Devils fell to an early deficit against the Wildcats that proved to be too much.

Edward Gaug | The Recorder

What turned out to be a gamewinning penalty kick by Persis Oware in the second half gave the CCSU men’s soccer team a well-deserved 2-1 win over Assumption College.

Oware was awarded the kick after being taken down inside the box, to which a yellow card was issued to the Assumption player at fault. He struck the kick into the top right corner, with the goalkeeper choosing the correct side, but the ball was still out of reach.

“The penalty kick was a special moment for me,” Oware said. “To be able to step up and do it was great. I just had to put it in.”

CCSU dominated possession for the majority of the game, and could have scored two or three more goals with the opportunities they had, but with a mix of questionable finishing and solid play by the Assumption back line held the scoreline to 2-1.

“This was a different type of challenge [compared to Western Massachusetts]. They made it difficult,” assistant coach Paul Wright said. “We were very well organized and we deserved the victory.”

Eddie Floyd opened the scoring in the first half after receiving a pass from midfielder Connor Smith, and calmly put it past the Assumption goalkeeper at the 12-minute mark.

Midfielder Robert Cavener, who received a yellow card in the match for dissent, praised his teammates’ efforts.

“We had a lot of confidence going into the game. We created chances and we expected to beat a Division II team,” he said, “We dominated possession and our defense was solid.

I am happy with our performance.”

Blue Devils goalkeeper Paul Armstrong held a clean sheet for the first half, and was replaced at halftime by Chris Jones, who gave up the lone goal for Assumption.

Assumption was awarded a penalty kick after the referee ruled that defender Jared Spieker pushed a Greyhound player down in the box and was given a yellow for the action.

The penalty kick hit off the right post before Greyhound midfielder Scott Buckholz knocked the rebound back off of the post and into the net.

“We were a little scrambled after they scored, but we came back together pretty well,” Oware said.

Assumption received two yellows for questionable challenges during the match.

“We are 2-0 for the Spring season with three games left to go. We want to make a statement. This is a challenge for ourselves,” Wright said.

“Yes, we are a young team, but the future looks good.”

CCSU is in action again tonight, Wednesday night at 7 p.m. home against Manchester Community College.